Counting Large Numbers In Thai - Thai Language

Counting in Thai is relatively straightforward, and by memorising only 17 words you can count into the millions. Due to the frequent need to haggle prices in Thailand, knowing the numbers and being able to count comes in very useful. The numbers 1-10 form the basis of all the others.

For the numbers greater than 19, the multiple of ten is placed before the สิบ sìp at the start of the number. For instance, 30 is สามสิบ săam sìp which if translated literally is just "three ten". Numbers in the twenties are an exception though, as 20 is ยี่สิบ yêe sìp not สอง สิบ sŏng sìp.

Arabic Numerals
Thai Numerals
Pronunciation
20
๒๐
ยี่สิบ yêe sìp
21
๒๑
ยี่สิบเอ็ด yêe-sìp-èt
22
๒๒
ยี่สิบสอง yêe-sìp-sŏng
23
๒๓
ยี่สิบสาม yêe-sìp-săam
30
๓๐
สามสิบ săam sìp
31
๓๑
สามสิบเอ็ด săam-sìp-èt
32
๓๒
สามสิบสอง săam-sìp-sŏng
40
๔๐
สี่สิบ sèe sìp
50
๕๐
ห้าสิบ hâa sìp
60
๖๐
หกสิบ hòk sìp
70
๗๐
เจ็ดสิบ jèt sìp
80
๘๐
แปดสิบ bpàet sìp
90
๙๐
เก้าสิบ gâo sìp
99
๙๙
เก้าสิบเก้า gâo-sìp-gâo

Above that, 100 is ร้อย rói and 1000 is พัน pan.

Arabic Numerals
Thai Numerals
Pronunciation
100
๑๐๐
หนึ่งร้อย nèung rói
200
๒๐๐
สองร้อย sŏng rói
555
๕๕๕
ห้าร้อยห้าสิบห้า hâa-rói-hâa-sìp-hâa
1000
๑๐๐๐
หนึ่งพัน nèung pan
9999
๙๙๙๙
เก้าพันเก้าร้อยเก้าสิบเก้า gâo-pan-gâo-rói-gâo-sìp-gâo

Thai differs from English in that it also has separate words for 10,000 (หมื่น , mèun ) and 100,000 (แสน , săen ) . 1,000,000 is ล้าน ( láan ).

Arabic Numerals
Thai Numerals
Pronunciation
10,000
๑๐ ,๐๐๐
หนึ่งหมื่น nèung mèun
123,456
๑๒๓ ,๔๕๖
หนึ่งแสนสองหมื่นสามพันสี่ร้อยห้าสิบหก nèung săen sŏng mèun săam pan sèe rói hâa sìp hòk
1,999,999
,๙๙๙ ,๙๙๙
หนึ่งล้านเก้าแสนเก้าหมื่นเก้าพันเก้าร้อยเก้าสิบเก้า
nèung láan gâo săen gâo mèun gâo pan gâo rói gâo sìp gâo


In common speech, nèung , the number 1, is frequently dropped when it appears first in a number (except for the number 1 itself, obviously). Similarly, rói , pan , mèun and săen are often dropped when they are the last word in a larger number. For instance, rói can be dropped when it's the last word and the number is greater than 1000 . pan can be dropped when it's the last word and the number is greater than 10,000 etc.

To use the number 1700 as an example: its full pronunciation is nèung pan jèt rói , but in common speech it would often be abbreviated to just pan jèt .
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